Curb Your Portions for Weight Loss and How to Help Lose that Stubborn Fat

Do you find that even when healthy foods that you can’t lose weight? That you are eating all the right things but still can’t shift those pounds? Are you going to the gym and grinding out those workouts but still nothing is shifting?

You feel like it’s a never ending battle against the bulge and every day you feel like giving up. Well have you really tried everything, or does it just feel like you have?

The most common way for people to lose weight is to count calories and put themselves into a calories deficit (this is how those diet clubs work, they come up with fancy ways of doing things but the idea is to put you into a calorie deficit) but I would say, that most people do not do this in the correct manner, especially for their own personal goals. They just base it off the national averages for men and women and then hope for the best, as they lose weight they stay at the same amount and never adjust their BMR when they hit each new weight. If you are looking at creating a personal calorie deficit then check out my Eating to Achieve your Goals article and in there you can work out your own BMR.

If calorie counting is not your thing then another way of watching what you eat is… PORTION CONTROL… by applying the correct portion control to your diet you can lose weight. (again this is the idea behind some of those dieting clubs, so you get to eat what you want (within reason) but at smaller amounts).

On the side of most food packets there will be a breakdown of the calories and other nutrients, sometimes they are split, for example on cereals it could be 50g and maybe 100g (or more). the smaller amount is the recommended portion size but who weighs out their foods. I did this once and found that my one bowl of cereal came to a whopping five portions. That’s four portions over the recommended amount.

Lets think about that for a second, and then put into into terms that can help me lose weight. Currently I am eating five portions of cereal in the morning, I then snack mid morning, have lunch, snack mid afternoon, have dinner and then maybe snack in the evening. I’m struggling to lose weight, how can I change something to help me lose weight. I’m not going to change anything else during the day but I’m going to change my breakfast and start with having only three portions of cereal. Straight away I’ve made a change for the better as I’ve made one simply change and reduced my daily calorie intake. If still not losing weight then I reduce another portion later in the day.

Also what I haven’t done is made a massive reduction, it’s something that I can maintain and over time I can reduce that down to two portions and then down to one. See here’s the thing, if you do everything to the extreme and you won’t stick with it, it’s too harsh, so make changes that become habits, re-educate yourself and then you will find that over time you can eat sensibly and lose weight.

Nearly all of us over eat, if you didn’t then you wouldn’t be reading this article, but here you are trying to figure out a way to lose weight and reading another article on the internet. So now I’ve spoken about why portion control is good and also how to make small changes, below I have set out what the rough recommended portion sizes are for some of the major food groups.

STARCHY FOODS: No more than 2 portions per meal

Bread: One Slice, half a bagel or Roll, one crumpet, half a muffin or half a pitta bread.

Boiled Potatoes: 2 Small (egg sized) potatoes

Rice: 80 grams (2 heaped tablespoons)

Pasta: 80 gram (3 heaped tablespoons)

PROTEIN:

Lean Meat: 70 grams (about the size of a deck of cards)

Fish: 140 grams

Eggs: 2 medium size eggs

Baked Beans: 1 small tin (200 grams)

Pulses: 5 Tablespoons (cooked)

Nuts: 40 grams (around a small handful)

Quorn, Soya or Tofu: around 120 grams (uncooked)

DAIRY:

Milk (including Soya, Rice or Oat Milk): a 200 ml glass

Yoghurt (including Soya yoghurts): a small 125 ml pot

Hard Cheese: 25 grams of cheddar

Cottage Cheese: 75 grams

Fruits and Vegetables:

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES:

Large Fruit: One slice of Pineapple, or 2 slice s of Mango or half a Grapefruit

Medium Fruit: 1 Apple, Orange, Banana or Peach

Small Fruit: Two Kiwis, Plums, Satsumas or Clementines

Grapes or berries: 1 handful

Dried Fruit: 1 heaped tablespoon

Salad Leaves: 5 tablespoons

Fruit Juice and Smoothies: 150 ml glass

Beans and Pulses: 3 heaped tablespoons

Mixed Veg: Three Heaped Tablespoons

If you are eating too much food all day, everyday then you will put on weight, so even if you thinking you are not eating enough, you could be eating the wrong things and too much of it, so your calorie intake could be more than what your body requires.

For example, today I ate 3 Tesco Fruit Crumpet Pancakes (you can get them in the bakery section), well those 3 small pancakes came to 414 calories, it wasn’t much food, wasn’t very nutrient based and I’m still hungry 20 minutes later. Such a waste of calories, though at the time they tasted pretty good and it means that I miss out on something sweet later on as i’ve used up a lot of calories.

Remember…

It can be difficult to change unhealthy habits – approach it slowly and steadily so you’re not trying to make a big change that’s hard to stick to. Try to reduce the amount of fatty and sugary food and drinks you consume slowly. That way, you’re more likely to succeed. Start by limiting yourself to one of these items a day, then every other day and then once a week. Keep going and see how much you can achieve.

If you are a member of PUREGYM ALTRINCHAM or live in the local area and want home visits, needing a program or just some advice, then book yourself in with me for a FREE consultation and we can have a chat.